Professional skateboarder Andy Macdonald. (Photo by Morgan Andrew Somers)

Both athletes and musicians must be able to improvise, but they rarely do so in tandem.

That will change on Sunday, when the University Musical Society and Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark, in collaboration with City of Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation, present a free-style show that combines professional skateboarding with live jazz music.

“Falling Up and Getting Down” takes a concept originated by jazz pianist/composer and MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner Jason Moran – who kicked off the UMS season in 2013 with a Fats Waller Dance Party at Downtown Home & Garden – and brings it to Ann Arbor.

Previously, Moran helped put together a similar event at the Kennedy Center and at the San Francisco Jazz Center, but Ann Arbor’s show will be the first to take place at an in-ground, permanent skatepark. READ THE REST HERE

Critics who saw a previous production of Sean Paraventi’s Love is Strange – now being staged by Slipstream Theatre Initiative – consistently noted that “it’s not for the squeamish.”

Color me squeamish, then. I’ll confess, I avoid horror movies because I have intense, visceral responses to depictions of violence and cruelty, especially when the victims are young women/girls. So, perhaps I’m not the “right” audience for Love is Strange; regardless, I tried going into Slipstream’s opening night performance with an open mind.

The play, directed by Bailey Boudreau, is set in the shabby home of a trucker named Carl (Ryan Ernst), who lives with 15 year old Megan (Grace Joliffe), a runaway he kidnapped from a truck stop when she was 12. Carl keeps Megan on a short leash, imprisoning her in a small closet – where she spent her first years with him – when she steps out of line, and giving her more freedoms when she proves herself worthy of his trust.

Megan suffers from Stockholm syndrome, playing house lovingly with her captor (when she’s not closeted), as if they’re a frisky young couple. But the audience soon learns that the pair shares an even darker, more violent connection, making them a kind of weirdly domesticated Bonnie and Clyde. READ THE REST HERE

Carrie Jay Sayer plays Elizabeth Bishop, and Joel Mitchell plays Robert Lowell in Theatre Nova’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s “Dear Elizabeth.”

While watching Theatre Nova’s lovely new production of Sarah Ruhl’s play, Dear Elizabeth, drawn from 30 years of correspondence between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, the phrase “alone together” comes to mind often.

Why? Because although they both experience love off-stage – Bishop with a woman in Brazil named Lota, Lowell with three different wives – their true first love is words; and like a jealous, possessive lover, words, when you’re a professional writer, demand that you spend most of your waking life alone with them, and only them.

So it’s not surprising that Lowell and Bishop – who lived a similarly isolated artistic existence, and consequently understood each other deeply – flung letters to each other as if they were life preservers. READ THE REST HERE

Books and authors featured at last year’s Kerrytown BookFest.

You needn’t pack a suitcase to attend the 2016 Kerrytown BookFest’s “Travels with Books” programs; you just need a sense of adventure and a passion for the written word.

Yes, the 14th annual BookFest, happening Sunday, September 11 from 10:30 am to 5 pm at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market and Kerrytown Concert House, is a free celebration of authors, books, bookmaking and more, with events and activities for kids, too.

The day kicks off with coffee and doughnuts, as well a short presentation of the 9th annual Community Book Award; this year’s recipient is Washtenaw Literacy, which provides literacy support, free of charge, to adults by way of trained tutors.

“That was a pretty easy decision,” said KBF president and Aunt Agatha’s Book Shop co-owner Robin Agnew. “There was unanimous agreement. It’s a great organization, and they’re now celebrating their 40th year of doing great things in our community.” READ THE REST HERE

Joe Zettelmaier, Joey Albright, and Anna Simmons recently founded Roustabout Theatre Company, which is kicking off with events in Milan, Michigan. (Photo by Doug Coombe for Concentrate.)

One of the Ann Arbor area’s oldest and most distinguished theaters, Ann Arbor’s Performance Network Theatre, closed its doors in December after 34 years in business. But multiple smaller theater companies in the area have found considerable success in recent years by moving away from the traditional cultural center of Ann Arbor.

Recent years have seen the arrival of new companies in smaller communities like Milan, Dexter, and Pinckney – places where the local arts marketplace is less crowded, rent and/or building prices are affordable, and a tight-knit community feels a sense of cultural pride and ownership. What’s more, these theaters often bring people (and their wallets) to their communities’ downtowns, making professional theaters a more appealing economic engine. In this unusual moment for local theater, we took a look at how several new area theater companies are choosing where to put down stakes in hopes of long-term success. READ THE REST HERE

David Dimitri performing the finale of his one-man-show, “L’Homme Cirque,” on Saturday, August 27. (Photo by Jenn McKee)

On Saturday evening, I sat inside a white tent in Burns Park and watched veteran performer David Dimitri’s one-man-show, “L’Homme Cirque” (presented by Ann Arbor Summer Festival), under what might be ideal circumstances – which is to say, I had a five-year-old on my lap.

This wasn’t “ideal” because of comfort – five-year-olds rarely stop wiggling, and the weather was post-storm muggy besides – but rather because, as Dimitri performed his wordless, hour-long circus show for a capacity crowd (220), my daughter repeatedly voiced questions like, “How’s he going to get down?” “What’s he going to do with that?” “What’s he going to do next?”

Neve’s stream-of-consciousness curiosity underscored Dimitri’s playfulness and demonstrated to me how the show is ultimately built on a kind of repeating pattern: stoke anticipation, tease the audience, and finish with a moment or two of joyous wonder.  READ THE REST HERE

Brooklyn-based company The TEAM’s “RoosevElvis” promises to be a trippy, imaginative night of theater, courtesy of UMS.

September isn’t just back-to-school season; it’s also the moment when most theater companies (and universities’ performing arts departments) launch into a brand new year of programming.

It’s enough to make a dramaphile downright giddy.

But because we’re blessed with a perennially rich, vibrant arts scene here in Ann Arbor, it can be challenging to keep track of all the good stuff on the horizon – so I’ve compiled a list of theater offerings that I’m most excited about for the coming year. The list is organized by date, so mark your calendars!  READ THE REST HERE

Looking for things to do around the Ann Arbor area in September? Take a listen to this monthly Art & Soul segment I do with WEMU’s “All Things Considered” host Lisa Barry!

We’ve all heard the phrase “one-man band,” but “one-man circus” is a far more unfamiliar concept, to say the least.

That will likely change when David Dimitri drives his truck to Ann Arbor’s Burns Park and starts setting up his specially designed L’Homme Cirque tent for performances from August 24-28, as Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s (A2SF) final offering for 2016.

Dimitri, a veteran of Cirque du Soleil and Big Apple Circus, created his acclaimed one-man show in 2001. Patrons can expect to see high wire flips, physical comedy, and a human cannon launch, as well as a finale that involves Dimitri exiting the tent on a tightrope that appears to lead him out into the sky (with the crowd leaving the tent to watch).  READ THE REST HERE